A printed circuit board is a board on which a copper thin film is patterned as an electric circuit. In order to electrically connect with electric elements, a soldering process wherein the circuit is soldered with the electric elements is necessary. It, however, is very difficult to solder on the fine and complicated electric circuit. Accordingly, it is proposed that the portions not to be soldered are covered with a solder mask which is a protective layer having high heat resistance, and that the portions to be soldered are not covered with the solder mask. The solder masked electric circuit board is directly dipped in a solder bath to connect with the electric elements.
The solder mask is generally formed by coating a negative type photosensitive solder resist on the surface of the circuit board followed by exposing to light though a negative film and developing. The coating process of the negative type photosensitive solder resist is classified into three type, i.e. a printing process, a dry film process and a liquid resist process. In the printing process and the liquid resist process, it is essential to employ a liquid resist, thus the edge (corner) portion of the copper film being not covered with the resist. Also, there may be through-holes present in the electric circuit board, but the liquid resist may flow into the through-holes. In the dry film process wherein a dried film of the photosensitive resist is covered on the electric circuit board, some air spaces are formed between the dried film and the board due to the thickness of the copper film. It may happen that solder invades into the air spaces or that the air in the air space expands to cause blisters. Accordingly, masking effects are not ensured sufficiently also in the dry film process.